If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Bruins roll behind big second periodBrad Marchand, Zdeno Chara and David Pastrnak all score in a 5-goal second period for the Bruins, as they top the Panthers 7-3.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Zdeno Chara picked a great time to score a milestone goal.

Chara scored his 200th NHL goal and added an assist to help the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 7-3 on Saturday night and clinch a berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Earlier in the day, the Bruins announced the 42-year-old Chara signed a one-year, $2 million contract extension.

The goal was his first since Feb. 18th at San Jose.

"Anytime you reach a milestone it's special," Chara said. "I'm not one of those guys that's going to score another 100. It's a pretty decent number for a guy who wasn't supposed to play the game. It's a big win for us to clinch the playoffs."

Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand also had a goal and an assist, and Steve Kampfer, Karson Kuhlman and Noel Acciari had the other goals for Boston. Danton Heinen had two assists and Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 shots and also had an assist as the Bruins won their fourth straight.

Chara is in his 13th season with Boston and 21st in the NHL. He is the second-oldest active NHL player, behind Pittsburgh's Matt Cullen.

"I don't care how long you played. It feels good to score a goal," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We're all happy for Z."

With Boston leading 2-1, Chara's shot from the high slot beat Montembeault at 5:05. Kuhlman made it 4-1 as he grabbed the puck at the red line, skated in, and fired a shot in at 6:38 for his second career goal.

Hoffman grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated in and fired the puck past Halak at 10:04 to pull Florida to 4-2.

Kampfer and Pastrnak scored 48 seconds apart to stretch the Bruins' lead to 6-2 with 3:24 to go in the middle period.

"We beat ourselves, 24 turnovers, and their first four goals came off our sticks on turnovers," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "It was stupidity and bad turnovers that ended up in the back of our net."

Trocheck scored a power-play goal at 3:57 of the third to get the Panthers within three.

Bergeron's empty-netter with 26.8 left capped the scoring.

"It's one of those things where we know we have to be better and we know that's not good enough especially against good teams," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said.

Florida's Aleksander Barkov landed face down on the ice after a collision with Chara with 3:04 left in the game but left under his own power.

Acciari gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 2:23 in. David Backes passed from behind the net to Acciari, who was alone in front and his shot got past Montembeault.

Marchand doubled the lead when he took a feed from Bergeron from behind the net and shot the puck in from the low slot at 28 seconds of the second period.

The Panthers answered 24 seconds later as Hawryluk one-timed the puck in from in front.

Game notes

Chara is the 22nd defenseman in NHL history to score 200 goals.

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin

Lightning score 3 in 3rd period for comeback winThe Tampa Bay Lightning come alive in the third period and score three goals to come back and beat the Bruins 5-4 at home.

TAMPA, Fla. -- With five games left in the regular season, history is the only thing the Tampa Bay Lightning have to play for. The NHL's best team is still plenty motivated.

Steven Stamkos scored twice and finished with four points, and the Presidents' Trophy-winning Lightning became the fourth NHL team to win at least 59 games in a season, rallying from two goals down to beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 on Monday night.

With four more victories, Tampa Bay (59-14-4) would surpass the league record of 62, set by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings. The only other franchise to win at least 59 was the Montreal Canadiens, who did it in 1976-77 (60 wins) and 1977-78 (59). Both of those Montreal teams went on to win the Stanley Cup.

"Our mindset is to win each and every night," said Stamkos, who reached the 40-goal mark for the fifth time in his career and the first time since 2014-15. "I think we try to give ourselves a chance, and I think we have this entire month with pretty much knowing where we are going to finish in the standings now for a while. That says a lot about our group."

Anthony Cirelli scored his 18th goal of the season with 52.4 seconds left in the third period to complete the comeback for Tampa Bay. Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov also scored in the third for the Lightning, who improved to 9-11 this season when trailing entering the final period.

Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 13 saves as Tampa Bay set a franchise record for home points in a season (66) and tied the record for home wins (32).

Cirelli scored the winning goal after finding a soft spot in the slot and getting off a one-timer from a pass by Mathieu Joseph.

"We just go out there and play," said Cirelli, who set a franchise record with his fifth game-winning goal as a rookie. "We never give up, we just keep going and we have the skill to put up goals. We saw that in the third period."

The Bruins, whose four-game winning streak ended, scored three times in the span of 5:50 in the second period on goals from Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo and Charlie Coyle. Marchand also scored in the first period. Tuukka Rask finished with 23 saves.

"That's a team that's been doing that to a lot of teams this year, being down and getting back in games, especially in the third," Boston center Patrice Bergeron said. "We've seen it before so, you know, we've got to be better."

Boston was caught on odd-man rushes on Tampa Bay's third and fourth goals. Carlo missed high on an open look from the slot and Vasilevskiy stopped David Pastrnak with a toe-save with the rebound going to Stamkos, who sprung Kucherov for a 2-on-1.

"We had a chance to put the game away. We're off net with our chance, we've got the hustle back," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said about Tampa Bay's third goal. "The lone (defenseman) that was back there just made a poor decision. He's got to buy time for people to recover. That gave them life, unfortunately."

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin

Pastrnak notches a hat trick, including two on the power play, as the Bruins beat the Rangers 6-3.

BOSTON -- It certainly appears David Pastrnak has worked the rust off.

Pastrnak had three goals and two assists for a career-high five points Wednesday night, sending the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers.

Playing his fifth game since missing 16 following left thumb surgery, the winger raised his goal total to a team-leading 36.

"Pretty close," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said when asked if Pastrnak is fully recovered. "Obviously, a great night. He was firing the puck well. It looked like he was more comfortable handling it in traffic."

Coming off a 3-1 road trip but disappointed after blowing a two-goal lead Monday night against NHL-best Tampa Bay, the Bruins broke it open with four goals in the third period for their 12th consecutive victory at home. It's their longest streak since winning 14 straight during the 2008-09 season.

Pastrnak completed his fourth career hat trick and third this season with a power-play goal to make it 4-2 with 7:08 to play, triggering a flow of hats that littered the ice. He became the first Bruins player with a trio of hat tricks in one season since Hall of Famer Cam Neely in 1993-94.

"It helps a lot for me coming back from after a long time (away)," Pastrnak said. "It was a little bit tough at the beginning."

The Bruins had gone 1-7-2 in their last 10 games against the Rangers, including losing the first two meetings this season.

Backup goalie Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves. Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy and Patrice Bergeron also scored for Boston, which went 4 for 6 on the power play.

"It's hard enough to win in this league when you don't beat yourself," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "We did a lot of good things early, hanging around a good hockey team, then just imploded."

Mika Zibanejad had two goals and Ryan Strome also scored for the Rangers, who have lost six of seven as the season nears a close. Their rebuilding project continues after dealing away eight players off the roster at the past two trade deadlines.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots, losing for just the second time in his last nine games against the Bruins. He made a highlight-reel save midway into the first period on Chris Wagner when he lunged across the crease to make a stick save.

"They have a lot of good players, but first, to win any games we have to play smart," Lundqvist said. "We can't have two too many men on the ice (penalties), for example. There's no excuse for that."

Pastrnak's second goal broke a 1-all tie at 9:15 of the second. It came off a nice setup from David Krejci, who cut around Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo and shifted from forehand to backhand before slipping a cross-ice pass to the winger, who sent a one-timer into the net from the right circle.

Pastrnak then made a beautiful cross-ice pass to DeBrusk, who made it a two-goal lead 3:19 into the third.

With the Rangers short-handed following their first too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, Pastrnak one-timed a feed from Brad Marchand, moving Boston ahead 2:48 into the game.

The Rangers tied it with a power-play goal of their own when Strome sent Zibanejad in alone and he reached back to slip a forehand behind Halak as he was moving across the edge of the crease at 16:29 of the first period.

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin

BOSTON -- Panthers forward Troy Brouwer was the first to the puck as it rolled into the Boston zone, with three Bruins chasing helplessly behind him.

He reared back for a slap shot, freezing Tuukka Rask as the goaltender ventured a bit too far out of the crease. Then Brouwer brought his stick back down to the ice and wristed the puck past Rask, high on the stick side, for a short-handed goal that restored Florida's two-goal lead.

"They had just cut the deficit to one goal and they were on the power play," Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo said after Saturday's 4-1 victory over Boston. "It was a huge momentum turn for our club to be able to get one short-handed and extend our lead back to two goals. I really never looked back after that."

Evgenii Dadonov scored twice, one of them an empty-netter, and Luongo stopped 30 shots to help the Panthers end the Bruins' 12-game home winning streak, its longest since 2008-09. Riley Sheahan also scored for Florida, which has already been eliminated from playoff contention.

"Unfortunately it doesn't mean that much this time of year," Luongo said. "But we're all professionals in here and we play to win hockey games. It doesn't matter what's at stake, you always want to be on the winning side."

Noel Acciari scored and Rask made 19 saves for Boston, which has already clinched a playoff berth and entered the day tied with Calgary for the second-best record in the league. The Bruins will most likely open the postseason at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"We're here to win games until we get locked in," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "What's in front of us is second place. We'd like to get there."

The Bruins outshot the Panthers 16-8 in the first, but Sheahan and Dadonov scored about two minutes apart late in the period to give Florida a 2-0 lead heading into the break.

"They were throwing everything at the net," Luongo said. "I was able to get in the game early, so I felt pretty good and guys rewarded me with two goals in the first and a huge short-handed goal in the second."

It was still 2-0 late in the second, when Acciari used a backhand swipe to beat Luongo and cut the deficit to one goal. But just 1:07 later, with the Bruins on their first power play of the game, Brouwer made it 3-1.

Rask said he was slightly out of position because he had been tempted to go play the puck himself.

"That's one of those shots you'd like to save," he said. "Especially in a 2-1 game."

Dadonov added an empty-netter with 2:19 left to clinch it.

With 10 minutes left in the game, the Bruins had the puck behind Luongo before it was swept off the goal line by a defender. Luongo sprawled to the ice, losing his stick in the process, but Boston wasn't able to get off a shot while he was out of position.

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings are playing their best hockey of the season while perhaps hurting their chances of winning the NHL draft lottery.

Anthony Mantha scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick, lifting Detroit to a 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.

Jimmy Howard had 31 saves for the Red Wings, who have won five straight for the first time this season. The run has decreased their odds of getting the No. 1 pick in the draft to possibly select American star Jack Hughes -- much to the chagrin of some of their fans.

"The fact that our young players are the ones that are driving this winning streak should temper some of those concerns," coach Jeff Blashill said. "These are the guys that are going to make the impact than anybody we draft."

Taro Hirose scored his first NHL goal early in the third period, just 8 seconds after Mantha completed his hat trick.

The 24-year-old Mantha scored twice in the opening period to give Detroit a 2-0 lead and scored again 1:17 into the third period to tie the game at 3. Hirose, who signed March 12 as a 22-year-old free agent from Michigan State, put the Red Wings up 4-3 while their fans were still roaring after the tying goal.

Filip Hronek, a 21-year-old defenseman, gave Detroit a two-goal cushion with 7:57 remaining in regulation, and 22-year-old captain Dylan Larkin added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

"We're just trying to enjoy the last couple of days, last week," Mantha said. "It shows on the ice."

The Bruins, meanwhile, lost three of four games for the second time in March to give Toronto a chance to catch them for second place in the Atlantic Division.

"We want to get to the point where we could have the luxury of resting people," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We'd also like to play for what's in front of us, which is second place. We're allowing some of that opportunity to get away."

The Bruins took a one-goal lead into the third period after David Backes redirected a shot into the net with a minute left in the second. Boston's Jake DeBrusk scored early in the second and Brad Marchand tied the game midway through the period with a franchise-record 26th short-handed goal.

"It's nice, but it doesn't mean as much when you don't win," Marchand said.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 shots for the Bruins.

Even though Detroit will miss the playoffs for a third straight year, Blashill is expected to get a two-year contract extension this week. The rebuilding franchise is developing young players such as Mantha and Larkin under Blashill and the team is competing for him even though it has been out of contention for much of the season.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Jake DeBrusk and the Boston Bruins are looking to build some momentum heading into the playoffs.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are just trying to get into the postseason right now.

Boston beat Columbus 6-2 on Tuesday night, ruining the Blue Jackets' opportunity to clinch a wild card in their last game at home. Instead the race will extend into the last two games of the season.

Columbus began the day in the first wild-card slot. It could have clinched a playoff berth with a win and a Montreal loss. But Montreal beat Tampa Bay, and Carolina beat Toronto.

When the dust settled, the Hurricanes were on top of the wild-card standings with 95 points. Columbus and Montreal each had 94, and the Blue Jackets hold the tiebreaker over the Canadiens.

DeBrusk had two goals and an assist and Tuukka Rask made 32 saves to help the Bruins stop a two-game slide. Brad Marchand and Karson Kuhlman each had a goal and an assist, and Marcus Johansson and David Pastrnak also scored.

"It's kind of the team we've been all year, right?" Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We're a good hockey club, and we don't usually lose a lot of games in a row. And we try to take care of the business at hand and correct why we lost."

Oliver Bjorkstrand extended the longest active goal streak in the NHL to six games with a third-period tally for Columbus, which had won five in a row. Matt Duchene also scored.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 19 stops, but allowed four goals before being relieved by Joonas Korpisalo late in the second period. Korpisalo had three the rest of the way.

"They just had really good sticks," Columbus forward Cam Atkinson said. "They checked really hard and made it really hard for all of us to break out, to get into the neutral zone and even getting into the offensive zone. They played a lot better than us."

Boston got a bizarre break 1:58 into the game when a shot by DeBrusk bounced off the top of the net and straight into the air. On the way down, it hit Bobrovsky in the back and trickled in.

The Bruins went up 2-0 late in the first when Johansson banged in a rebound for his first goal since being acquired in a trade with New Jersey at the deadline last month.

Late in the second, Marchand tapped in a shot amid heavy traffic . DeBrusk got his second goal on a breakaway 46 seconds later, and Pastrnak made it 5-0 early in the third.

Columbus answered with back-to-back power-play goals. Bjorkstrand, who has been on a tear, converted a shot from the top of the right circle. Duchene then got his 31st of the season at 9:14, but the Blue Jackets were unable to keep the momentum.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Locked into the second spot in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Bruins took the opportunity to rest several players in advance of the playoffs.

Jaroslav Halak made sure there was no letdown and Zach Senyshyn took advantage in his NHL debut.

Halak made 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 47th of his career, and short-handed Boston beat the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Thursday night.

"That's how we want to finish the season, playing the right way," Halak said. "Although both teams were missing some key guys from the lineups, it could go either way. But like I said, I'm just happy the guys that played, played great, making the right plays at the right time."

Joakim Nordstrom, David Pastrnak and Senyshyn scored for the Bruins.

Halak, who has split time with Tuukka Rask in goal for Boston this season, was rarely challenged by a Minnesota team that was shut out for the 10th time this season and seventh on its home ice.

"It was a pretty emotionless game on both sides, I think," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's very frustrating. I was getting mad on the bench saying, `We aren't getting shut out again.' I think that's the 11th time this year. You can't win like that."

The Bruins, who have the second-most points in the East behind Atlantic champion Tampa Bay, rested Zdeno Chara, David Krecji, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy. Regulars Chris Wagner, John Moor and Sean Kuraly also missed the game with injuries.

"We don't really have anything to play for today and next game, but we want to play to our standard," Nordstrom said. "We want to build our game and end the regular season on a good note."

Alex Stalock stopped 32 shots for Minnesota, which has lost nine times in its past 13 games and was eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday.

The Wild were 3-8-4 at home since the All-Star break and the 10 shutouts this season are tied for the second most in franchise history, and the most since 2002-03, the franchise's third year in existence.

"I think just energy-wise, I feel like, for some reason on the road maybe we're just a bit simpler and had more jump," Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon said. "But I thought we had a decent first period today, and then they got the one and we couldn't muster anything."

A game that didn't mean anything for either team didn't feature much action until Nordstrom broke the scoreless stretch midway through the second period.

Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk sent in a shot that went wide of the goal and bounced off the end boards where forward Noel Acciari astutely tipped the puck out to the front of the net. Nordstrom was wide open in front and sent a quick shot past Stalock for his seventh goal of the season.

Pastrnak and Senyshyn scored 36 seconds apart with less than three minutes remaining. It was Pastrnak's team-leading and career-high 38th goal. Senyshyn, the 15th-overall pick in the 2015 draft by Boston, capped the scoring with an empty-netter.

"It feels incredible," Senyshyn said of getting his first career goal. "I know it's not the way you envision it, but I'll take it any way I can get it. That was a dream come true for sure."

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin

BOSTON -- Nikita Kucherov and the Tampa Bay Lightning finished the regular season with one more impressive performance.

Next stop: Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Lightning matched an NHL record with their 62nd win, using a three-goal second period to beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 on Saturday.

"Sixty-two is a number that's only been touched once, and for a team that's kind of been locked into a playoff spot for quite some time, to be able to bring it every single night, to continue to find a way to get that number is a credit to the players and staff," coach Jon Cooper said. "We didn't sit there and circle 62 and say that's going to be our number, but it's kind of cool that we actually got to that number."

Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli and Braydon Coburn each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay (62-16-4), which tied the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for most victories during the regular season. Steven Stamkos got a short-handed goal during the second, and Erik Cernak also scored during the period.

The Lightning earned six of their wins in shootouts. The league introduced shootouts to decide ties after overtime at the start of the 2005-06 season. Before that, games ended in ties after overtime, which was brought in for regular-season games in 1983.

Kucherov finished with 41 goals and 87 assists, putting him in position to win the Art Ross Trophy awarded to the NHL's leading scorer. He also broke Alexander Mogilny's single-season record for most points for a Russian-born player.

David Krejci, Danton Heinen and Matt Grzelcyk scored for Boston (49-24-9), which fell one short of consecutive 50-win seasons. Tuukka Rask made 16 saves.

"Couple days of rest and a couple practices and that's it. Best time of year," said Rask, who was presented with a painting during a pregame ceremony for becoming the team's winningest goaltender earlier this season.

Kucherov got his record-setting point when he assisted on Johnson's 29th of the season with 1:26 remaining. Johnson raced to the net to grab the puck and then embraced Kucherov near the blue line in front of Tampa Bay's bench.

"It's definitely a special moment," Kucherov said. "Thanks to everybody here in the room and thanks to the guys helping me out. It's a team effort and everybody is involved in my success."

It was the Lightning's 30th road win, making them just the second team in league history to reach that total. The 2005-06 Red Wings had 31.

Both teams rested a couple of key players. Boston's group included top-line players Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, who was the first Bruins player with 100 points in a season since Joe Thornton in 2002-03.

"I'm an optimist. I like our team," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We play hard. We're one of the better teams start to finish in the National Hockey League."

Trailing 2-1, Stamkos stole a pass and went in all alone, shifting around Rask before tucking a backhander into the net midway into the second. Cirelli's goal 4:07 later moved the Lightning ahead 3-2. Kucherov scored 53 seconds into the third.

The Lightning were down 2-0 at one point before rallying. This was the 136th multigoal comeback win of the season for Tampa Bay, which set a single-season league record, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The previous record of 135 was first set in 2006-07.

Boston jumped in front on Krejci's 20th of the season 14:38 into the game. Charlie McAvoy was originally given the goal after he collected a loose puck and fired it at the net as Krejci was charging toward the front.

Heinen beat Pasquale with a rising wrist shot inside the left post to make it 2-0 with 19.1 seconds left in the opening period. Cernak slipped a wrist shot past Rask from the slot for a power-play goal 4:41 into the second.

Two time winner of the "Zukes" Cup (2011, 2012)

Jagr tells the crowd that he wanted to make a beautiful goal but ... "It hit my ass," he said.

"You know what was great, was today one of his fans mooned me, and he had Happy, written on his ass, HA on one cheek, and then sure enough PPY, right there on the other" ~ Shooter McGavin